On May 11, 2022, the Fifth Circuit reinstated Texas state law HB 20 which allows private parties to sue tech platforms with 50M+ MAUs for their censorship of user-generated content based on “the viewpoint of a user or another person”. On May 13, technology lobbying groups NetChoice and the Computer...
Terrorists and other bad actors exploit a variety of social media platforms, taking advantage of their different capabilities and trying to find weak areas in which they can operate. Social media companies have begun to cooperate more against this danger, but their efforts are plagued by many...
Do platforms like YouTube and cyberlocker Uploaded directly perform copyright-restricted acts under Article 3 of the InfoSoc Directive? At what conditions is the hosting safe harbour under Article 14(1) of the Ecommerce Directive available? What may be the requirements for injunctions under Article...
The draft Digital Services Act (DSA) Regulation presents multiple layers of transparency and accountability obligations that differ depending on the type of service concerned. There are a few obligations that are imposed on all intermediary services, i.e., mere conduit, caching, and hosting services...
The European Commission has published its long overdue guidance on the application of art. 17 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSMD), a mere three days before the implementation deadline. The final version of the guidance makes it clear that the Commission has abandoned...
While platforms currently have no obligation to incorporate fundamental rights into their terms of service, an important provision in the EU’s proposed Digital Services Act (DSA), may potentially go some way in this direction. Notably, art. 12 DSA lays down new rules on how platforms can enforce...
Most designated terrorist organisations have long since abandoned mainstream social media in favour of alternative platforms or self-developed technologies that rely on decentralisation and enhanced levels of encryption. The most persistent examples of terrorist content are confined to smaller...
The eagerly awaited Digital Services Act (DSA) aims to provide for a safer and more transparent online environment for millions of Europeans. In many aspects, this is a very progressive and relevant proposal that may introduce a quite sophisticated and modern approach to platform regulation. However...
In an effort to gain greater control over social media platforms, governments around the world are enacting laws requiring that tech platforms appoint in-country representatives and store user data locally. That can put individual representatives in the crosshairs of governments seeking to exert...